Friday, 25 January 2013

Supplications of Parents and Children

This article talks about the importance of parents supplicating for their children and children supplicating for their parents.

Parent's Supplications

If
you were a parent then you would want the best for your children. The best
thing that you can give them is that they learn to submit themselves to Allah
(swt). In so doing, by Allah's Mercy, they will be grantedJannah(Paradise) to live therein forever. It
goes without saying that what you do not want is for them to end inJahannum(Hell) forever.

Imagine
a burning fire. Now imagine throwing your children into it - you cannot imagine
such a thing! But by not doing what is necessary to save your children now,
that is what you are ultimately doing.

Abu
Huraira (r) narrated: When Allah's Messenger (s) said, "Your ordinary fire
is one of 70 portions of the Hellfire," someone commented, "O
Messenger of Allah, would it (the ordinary fire) not be sufficient to burn the
wrongdoers?" At that, Allah's Messenger (s) said, "Hellfire has 69
more portions than ordinary fire, and all of them are as hot as this (worldly
fire)." (Bukhari) If you cannot imagine your children burning in this
earthly fire then you cannot imagine them in the fire ofJahannumburning 69 times as fiercer!

The
Prophet (s) warned his daughter Fatimah (r), "...O Fatimah, save yourself
from the Fire, for I cannot avail you anything before Allah." (Muslim,
an-Nasa'i) If the Prophet (s) cannot save his daughter on the Day of Judgement
then how can we hope to save our children then? Indeed, Allah (swt) warns us:

"O mankind! Be
afraid of your Lord (by keeping your duty to Him and avoiding all evil), and
fear a Day when no father can avail aught for his son, nor a son avail aught
for his father...."(Qur'an, Luqman 31:33)

The
time for saving our children isnow!

An
Islamic upbringing is one way of ensuring this so that when they are older they
can save themselves fromJahannum.
However, there is another way available to every person that you must take
advantage of. It is to makedu'ah(supplications) to Allah (swt).

The
Prophet (s) said, "The supplications of three persons are accepted and
there is no doubt concerning their acceptance: a father; a traveller; one who
is wronged." (Ahmad, Abu Dawood, Tirmidhi) Every parent must, therefore,
makedu'ahfor his or her children.

When
Prophet Ibrahim (a) and his son Prophet Ismail (a) were raising the foundations
of the Ka'baah, they made adu'ahto Allah (swt). The following is part
of theirdu'ah:

"Our Lord! And make
us submissive to You and of our offspring a nation submissive to You, and show
us all the ceremonies of pilgrimage and accept our repentance. Truly, You are
the One Who accepts repentance, the Most Merciful." (Qur'an, al-Baqarah
2:128)

Again,
this is thedu'ahof Prophet Ibrahim (a):

"O my Lord! Make me
one who performs prayers and from my offspring, our Lord! And accept my
invocation.

Our Lord! Forgive me and
my parents, and all the believers on the Day when the reckoning will be established." (Qur'an, Ibrahim 14:40-41)

Allah
(swt) granted Prophet Ibrahim (a) his prayer by granting from among his
offspring righteous prophets who submitted to Allah: Is'haaq, Ismail, Ya'qub, Yusuf (a). Prophet Muhammad (s) is
also a descendent of Prophet Ibrahim through Prophet Ismail.

You
cannot hope to raise Prophets from among your progeny since Prophet Muhammad
(s) was the Last Prophet. But you can pray that your children will be among the
righteous, those who submit to Allah (swt).

Children's
Supplications

Righteous
children not only benefit themselves through their good deeds but they also
benefit the parents during their lifetimes and after their parent's deaths.
According to Abu Huraira (r), the Messenger of Allah (s) said, "When a man
dies, his actions cease except for three things: asadaqah(charity) that he gave (which
continues to benefit the people); knowledge that he disseminated (which
continues to benefit the people); a righteous child who makes supplications for
him." (Muslim) Every parent, therefore, must try their best to bring up
and make supplications for righteous children so that the children in turn can
make supplications for them.

Although
you may not be a parent, everyone is a child of someone. It is, therefore,
essential that you try to become a righteous child to your parents while they
are alive and after their deaths. Abu Assyad, Malek ibn Rabe'a Al-Sa'edy
related: "While we were sitting with Allah's Messenger (s) a man from Bani
Salama came to him and asked, 'O Messenger of Allah! Would there still be
anything to do to be dutiful to my parents after they have died?' He answered,
'Yes! Pray for them, ask Allah's forgiveness for them, fulfil their covenants
after their death, maintain contact with kindred with whom contact can be established
only through them, and honour their friends.'" (Ahmad, Abu Dawood, Ibn
Majah, Al-Hakim)

Allah
(swt) has taught us manydu'ahto say for parents in the Qur'an.
Below are two:

"My Lord! Bestow on
them Your Mercy as they did bring me up when I was young." (Qur'an, al-Isra 17:24)

"My Lord! Grant me
the power and ability that I may be grateful for Your Favour which You have
bestowed upon me and my parents, and that I may do righteous good deeds, such
as please You, and make my offspring good. Truly, I have turned to You in repentance,
and truly, I am one of the Muslims (submitting to Your Will)." (Qur'an, al-Ahqaf 46:15)

Prophet
Nuh (a) made this du'ah to Allah:

"O my Lord! Forgive
me, my parents, all who enter my house in Faith, and all believing men and
believing women. And to the wrong-doers grant no increase but
destruction!" (Qur'an, Nuh 71:28)

If
you cannot bear the thought of your children burning in the Fire then can you
imagine your parents being punished in their graves? If you cannot then always
ask Allah's forgiveness for them whether they are still alive or not (note, you
cannot makedu'ahfor non-Muslim parents when they are
dead).

This
article has been about making supplications to Allah (swt) for your children
and parents. By using the above Qur'anic quotations (in Arabic) you will be
doing a service to them. The power of the supplications is a mighty tool that
Allah (swt) has given His slaves -use
it!

"And your Lord
says: Call on Me, I will answer your prayer. But those who are too arrogant to
serve Me will surely enter Hell disgraced." (Qur'an, Ghafir 40:60)